Suspect Held in Hollywood Freeway Shooting After 10-Mile Chase by Target Driver

LOS ANGELES —  Angered when the driver of a pickup truck shot at her car after a tailgating incident on the Hollywood Freeway, a Northridge woman chased the pickup for 10 miles early Tuesday, then gave police information that resulted in the driver’s arrest.

Carol Ann Fayne, 45, chased the pickup in her sports car through the San Fernando Valley and reported the license number to police, who used it to trace and arrest Lewis L. Meeks, 33, of Sylmar on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, Lt. Bernard D. Conine said.

Neither Fayne nor her passenger, Mike Smith, 36, of Northridge, was wounded in the incident, the fifth traffic-related shooting in the Los Angeles area in as many weeks.

Fayne said in an interview that she pursued the pickup at speeds of up to 100 m.p.h. because, “I guess, justice.”

The chase started on the northbound Hollywood Freeway near the junction with the Golden State Freeway in Sun Valley, she said.

Truck Found

Meeks “admits to being at that location at a different time in the evening, earlier, and denies being involved in the shooting,” Conine said. The truck described by Fayne was found parked outside Meeks’ Sylmar home, where he was arrested Tuesday afternoon.

Meeks was being held at Foothill Division jail in Pacoima in lieu of $12,000 bail, police said.

Fayne said she thought the weapon was a cap gun until the chase was over, and police found a bullet hole in the right rear fender of her black Nissan 280ZX.

Fayne and Smith were returning from a movie in Universal City about midnight when the truck approached and began tailgating their car on the Hollywood Freeway south of Roscoe Boulevard, Fayne said. The pickup began flashing its headlights, then pulled alongside the car, she said.

Fayne said she heard the first shot as the vehicles began traveling north on the Golden State Freeway.

Noise Heard

Moments later, a second shot apparently was fired. Fayne said she heard a noise and thought a beer bottle had struck her car.

Several miles later, after the chase had moved onto the eastbound Simi Valley Freeway and then onto the westbound Foothill Freeway, Fayne said, she heard a third shot.